Nemesis
by Zottelchen
Summary: When the away team discovered a huge alien ship nobody anticipated that the ship would become a deadly threat to them. But not only the foreign ship causes trouble, the relationship between some people is getting more and more complicated.
1. Ruins

The slight moment of disorientation when the ship drops out of hyperspace felt, for most of the people on board _Destiny_ , like the moment when your stomach drops at the peak of a roller coaster.

Dr. Rush was used to it though, and annoyed by the unscheduled stop. With a sigh he paused his work, and pressed some buttons to see why they had stopped.

The very low energy level made him believe that the ship found a star to refill at, but there was nothing out there. Except for a Stargate. Since they still had enough supplies on board, he hadn't reckoned that the ship would stop at a gate.

"Dr. Rush, please report to the gateroom," Colonel Young's voice came briskly over the radio.

The scientist confirmed and headed to the gateroom.

On the way Eli caught up. He had obviously been summoned too.

"I hope we're lucky this time," the young man started to babble away lively whilst walking.

Rush frowned. "What do you mean?" he asked. "What should we find except for nourishment and water?"

"Well, for once basic materials for repairs, alien technology…"

Without warning Rush stopped so that Eli almost bumped into his shoulder. The Scot turned and glared at him.

"Since when do we let the ship drop out of FTL for such unimportant matter and waste our time? We haven't even programmed such search parameters into the ship's database!"

Eli twisted the corner of his mouth quickly and looked a bit sheepish. "Well, I have. Colonel Young ordered me to," he confessed.

Rush looked daggers at him but didn't say anything as he continued on his way angrily. Eli followed him.

 _Of course it's Young again,_ Rush thought furiously. _What is he hoping to find? A highly developed society who can teleport him back to earth?_

"Uhm, Dr. Rush." Eli, almost had to run to keep up with him. "I thought you knew," he apologized.

"No," Rush barked and stormed into the gateroom. The gate was dialing and Rush headed quickly to the console while Eli grabbed a kino from the pile and waited.

"Dr. Rush," Young greeted him with a brief nod.

The wormhole opened and Eli sent the kino on it's way.

"What exactly do you think you'll find there, Colonel?" Rush growled, unable to restrain himself.

Young looked puzzled by the scientist's harsh tone.

"Food, like always, Dr. Rush. Water, maybe some other things we could use on board," he said as calmly as possible.

Even after two months it was strange to him, that the crew treated him the same as they had before the A.I. (which had been uploaded by Dr. Rush without Young's permission into _Destiny's_ main computer) had put him into a nightmare scenario. The memories still haunted him every night.

"Things completely useless for us maybe?" the scientist responded bitterly.

Young sighed quietly. "I am sorry, Dr. Rush," he said with some effort, trying not to annoy the Scot any more than he already had. "I thought Mr. Wallace would tell you what I asked of him. I just thought it wouldn't be that bad to have a look for other stuff. Our everyday objects have a shelf life. If we're able to find some replacement, fine with me. That's why I asked Eli to add some more search parameters to our priority list. And it seems, _Destiny_ found something."

Rush just glowered at him and said nothing. Although he didn't want to admit it, for once the Colonel might have had a good idea. They did have to replace or repair some things. They were also in dire need of some medical supplies, even clothes and dishes. After all they still had to live for some time on this ship.

Young was wise enough to hide his small triumph from the scientist, who had gone silent.

Before Rush could turn their conversation into an argument, Young approached Eli, who was reading the data the kino had transmitted. The first picture on it's own was causing him to get excited.

The eye was floating above a hill, showing a small city on a plain.

"Lifesigns?" Young asked at once, although he could clearly see only ruins. His eyes briefly wandered over to the scientist.

 _This should placate him eventually_ , he thought, and he was right.

Rush pressed some buttons excitedly and answered before Eli could.

"No, none at all. Not even potential specimens of fauna. But to be one hundred per cent certain I'd have to go to the city for a closer look. The kino is much too far away from the edge of the city to receive any usable data."

"Then why don't we go and have a look for ourselves?" Young said and gave Rush a slight smile. The scientist just nodded.

It didn't take long for teams to be gathered in front of the gate.

"Dr. Rush, you're with my team." Lt. Scott was standing in front of him in full gear and checked his weapon. "We're heading directly for the city. Are you ready?"

"Yes," the scientist answered and put his backpack on.

Scott nodded. "Okay, Team One, explore and secure the city. Team Two, look for supplies, Teams Three and Four cover our right and left. Report any unusual activity immediately. Our goal is the large hangar and building in the open space."

The Lieutenant waited a moment for questions.

"Let's go!" he shouted when there were none, and walked through the gate, his weapon at the ready, followed by the other soldiers in his team and, lastly, Dr. Rush.

= · =

A dry, but pleasantly warm wind was blowing over the ridge as they climbed down carefully. The path they found, leading directly into the city, had doubtless been kept immaculate for ages. But throughout the years nature crept through the marble-like flagstones, creating gaps and bumps. Another sign that the place had been abandoned.

Rush had taken a kino with him, which he sent ahead. It was still only transmitting images of the ruins, and not picking up a single life-sign.

It took them almost an hour to reach the edge of the city. The soldiers were even more on the alert and slowed down a bit.

"Anything from the kino?" Lt. Scott asked quietly. Rush shook his head.

"Team One, this is Team Two," Greer's voice sounded from Scott's radio. "We've moved into the city as well. No lifesigns at all."

"Copy that Team Two. Proceed."

"Yes, Sir."

Dr. Rush, who had been only half listening let the kino climb so they could find a way towards the center of the city. Although the city was small, Rush reckoned that they would need more than an hour to reach the hangar.

The soldier to his left entered a house carefully. The door was halfway open and hung crooked on its hinges. Scott kept the environment in mind and waited outside.

"We should go," Dr. Rush said, impatient to see the city center. If there was interesting technology here, they wouldn't find it at the outskirts.

"Just a moment, Dr. Rush. We just want to see if we get an indication of the people who lived here," the Lieutenant explained.

"If you want to find out what happened here, you'd be better off looking in a government building. Which is exactly what the one we're heading to could be."

Scott's reply was interrupted by the soldier exiting the building.

"Nothing, Sir. Just pieces of furniture. No skeletons or remains that could tell us who lived here. The technology is similar to ours, maybe slightly more advanced. There was a glass panel with embedded circuits attached to the wall."

"Probably some kind of holographic technology, like _Destiny_ has," Rush suggested, and started walking towards the house. He was stopped by Scott.

"I thought you wanted to go the center as quickly as possible, Dr. Rush. I'm sure there are more of these things there."

The scientist scowled but stayed outside.

"Have you found a way?" Scott asked.

Rush checked his DHD display. There did seem to be a visible route..

"I think so. This way," he said, pointing towards a wide street.

"Let's go," Scott ordered, and they marched on.

= · =

They didn't encounter anything living along the way. The buildings began to get bigger as they walked, and large shop windows invited them to look inside.

Occasionally they discovered foreign lettering, and entered some of the shops to take a look at the items inside..

Dr. Rush was able to identify some things and their functions, but they found nothing that could be useful for them on _Destiny_. The soldier had been right though – this technology was more advanced than their own.

When the other teams radioed in they reported more of the same.

The closer they got to the center, the denser and larger the buildings became. Some time later, the third team reported that they had found some dishes and plates made of a hard, unfamiliar material. Scott ordered them to take some.

Around the next corner they could finally see the hangar with the attached building.

They had been walking for an hour. In that time, another team had reported that they found what seemed to be a hospital, and would start to search the building for medical supplies. Lt. Johansen was sent to join them, Rush preferring to stay with Scott.

Team One turned onto an avenue which led directly to the square that was their destination.

Dr. Rush set a brisk pace, which Lt. Scott wasn't very keen about it, but he adapted without relaxing his attention.

Finally they entered the square and looked almost reverently at the huge building ahead of them.

On their right, Team Three appeared and approached them.

Dr. Rush headed straight for a door without waiting for the soldiers to catch up.

"Find anything?" Scott asked Team Three's team, not taking his eyes off Rush.

"Just the dishes," the soldier said, and took a bowl out of his backpack to show to Scott.

"We can use more of those. Inform Colonel Young, maybe he can send another team."

"Yes, Sir!"

"Meanwhile, we'll have a look what's in this hangar," Scott said and gestured towards the building with his thumb.

Rush had reached the door already. He looked at his DHD and pressed some buttons on the control panel on the wall to his left.

"Can you open the door?" Scott asked when he and his team reached Rush.

"I don't know yet," Rush said without looking at the lieutenant. "It's an automatic door but the whole city is without power." He looked more closely at the panel, then put the DHD in his back pocket and dug his fingers beneath the edge of the panel, but he couldn't manage to remove it on his own.

"Lieutenant, could you give me a hand please?" "Are you sure it's removable?" the lieutenant asked skeptically, but tried to help anyway.

"Quite sure," Rush said breathlessly, both of them pulling as hard as they could. Suddenly the panel broke away, causing Rush and Scott to nearly lose their balance. A handle in the wall appeared.

"There we go! A manual device," the Scot said satisfied and pulled firmly. This time he was lucky immediately. The handle could be operated easily and the door swung open.

A gust of stale air hit them and took away their breath for a moment.

"Maybe we should wait for some fresh air to get in there," Scott said.

"I'll send the kino in," Rush said, not happy about having to wait outside. At least he could look around with the kino.

The kino had barely entered the building when Rush switched to night vision. The entrance was empty but there were several ships farther back in the hangar.

"This is a spaceship hangar," Scott said, surprised and excited.

Rush navigated the kino deeper inside, alongside the ships and then even the scientist gasped. In comparison to the gigantic ship, they could now see at the end, the other vessels were tiny. Rush guessed the alien ship was almost three-quarters the size of _Destiny_.

"This is unbelievable," Scott whispered and activated his radio to inform Colonel Young about the discovery.

"Go inside and look around, Lieutenant." Young sounded excited."But with caution."

"Of course, Sir," Scott replied.

"And Lieutenant," Young's voice went down to a whisper, "look especially for weapons. We really could use some reinforcements."

There was a short pause as the Lieutenant glanced surreptitiously at his colleagues, then he said quietly, "I understand, Sir."

"Stay in radio contact. I'm on my way with my team."

"Bring Mr. Wallace and Miss Hansen along, will you?" Rush interrupted the Colonel speaking into Scott's radio.

"Of course, Dr. Rush. We'll bring some transport crates as well. Just in case. Young out."

The CO closed the channel and Rush gave Scott a knowing look, but said nothing. Like the Lieutenant he was very well aware that they had to be capable of defending themselves, and the ammunition wouldn't last forever.

= · =

After fifteen minutes, Rush couldn't wait any longer and entered the hangar. Although the smaller runabouts were interesting as well, Rush headed for the huge ship at the end. The kino had discovered a potential entrance and, to Rush's astonishment, a faint light was gleaming on the panel.

"The ship seems to have an independent energy source," he noted, and pressed a button after briefly studying the symbols. At first nothing happened, and Rush almost feared they might have to open the airlock by force, but then he could hear a faint rumble followed by a hissing and the door swung open.

The air escaping the ship smelled, to their surprise, fresher than the air in the hangar.

Scott and his men entered the ship first. Rush confirmed that the kino couldn't detect any lifesigns, and they grouped up in teams of two to search the ship.

Rush was quick in finding the bridge, but it wasn't responsively any longer. Though they had managed to open the door, the ship's energy was low and would soon be depleted.

Almost the same as Destiny when we first arrived, Rush thought angrily. Fortunately we're not in space, and I have some time. At least until Destiny jumps to FTL again.

He knew he wouldn't manage to power up the systems, let alone get the ship off the ground, but the energy should be sufficient to look through the database and study the technology. Rush started looking up the propulsion system, from which he strongly hoped to get something.

Eventually he was distracted by voices and approaching steps.

"Dr. Rush?" he recognized Eli's voice. Seconds later the young man appeared in the doors, followed by Melody.

"What took you so long?" Rush muttered instead of a greeting, and gestured to the two chairs in front of him, which stood at wide console further into the room. They took the hint, and while they sat down and connected the equipment they had brought along, Eli said "We came as soon as we could. We got a little lost."

"Very interesting, Mr. Wallace," Rush said with obvious boredom in his voice. "Since you've finally arrived, try to access the ship's database. The energy won't last for long. Look especially for life support, shields and other technologies which might be useful for us. The engine looks promising. It's more complex than the ancient FTL drive and very useful, if I had just enough time to study it…"

Rush continued monologuing, but both Eli and Melody were used to it, and didn't pay him much attention, though they were also curious about what they might find there .

= · =

Lt. Scott and PFC Harper walked down the corridors of the ship for almost two hours.

"I don't know, Sir. I don't like it," Harper said, looking around nervously.

Scott sighed softly to himself. Until now he hadn't had much to do with the private, but he was rumoured to be a coward. He was starting to believe it. There was nothing wrong with being cautious, but Harper wailed constantly and looked around so often that Scott was beginning to wonder why the man hadn't gotten a stiff neck yet.

"Dr. Rush assured us more than once that there are no life signs at all. Now pull yourself together and look for weapon chambers. There's no one else here except for us."

Scott's patience was quickly running out, and he made a mental note to leave Harper on Destiny whenever possible.

The young Private kept quiet and his cheeks started to burn at the reprimand. Although Dr. Rush had assured them that no one else was on board, he knew this wasn't right. He clearly felt observed. He swallowed and forced himself to keep his eyes straight ahead so he wouldn't annoy the lieutenant.

Scott opened a door and cried out in delight.

"See? I think we found it!" he let Harper have a look inside. The lieutenant was right, he had obviously found the armory.

"Get the others down here," Scott ordered.

"Yes, Sir," the PFC said, and radioed the Colonel before heading back to find the other teams.

After Harper had led Colonel Young personally to the armory, he was ordered to find another soldier and bring down the empty crates.

Unlike Harper, his comrade was extremely curious and looked in nearly every chamber on their way down to see if he could find anything else.

"Oh come on," Harper said when the other PFC strayed off for the third time to open a door and look inside.

"Hey, I think I found something what might bring joy to the sour old man," his voice came from somewhere inside. 'Sour old man' meant Dr. Rush, of course, who had earned that nickname within the lower ranks.

Harper sighed and entered. His eyes widened when he realized that Private Dunsten had probably just found the control room.

"We should inform Colonel Young and Dr. Rush about this," Harper said, awestruck, and grabbed his radio. He told Colonel Young, who ordered him to tell Rush and hurry up with the crates.

Rush appeared a few minutes later and practically lunged at the controls. Private Dunsten, who was getting bored, had started studying the controls. He accidentally brushed some when Rush asked him if he'd touched anything, and the ship came to life..

With a startled cry he whirled around and touched a hot conduit, which burned his skin.

Rush looked at him, dismissed the injury as minor, and returned to focusing on the controls. At the same moment, the ship's energy was depleted, and everything went dark.

"What happened now?" Harper asked, as he looked after Dunsten's burn. He turned on his flashlight. A moment later Young's voice came from Rush's radio.

"Dr. Rush, what happened to the light?"

The scientist took out his own flashlight and answered, shining the light over the console.

"It seems that the last energy resources were just wasted for a pointless activation of the engines. We have to make sure that we get off the ship quickly. Life support is offline and an open door isn't going to refresh the air fast enough."

Young heard the anger in Rush's voice. He wasn't happy about the incident either, but at least they wouldn't leave empty handed.

"How much time do we have before the air runs out?"

"Approximately fifteen minutes."

"All right. Make sure you get out of here. Destiny will jump back into Hyperspace soon anyway."

Rush didn't answer, instead pointing his flashlight directly into the face of the unlucky person who had activated the system by accident.

"I'm sorry, Doctor," he apologized immediately and looked down, his hand still hurting badly.

"See to it you get back to Destiny – and out of my sight!" Rush just said.

"Yes, Sir," Dunsten replied, relieved, and hurried out of the room.

"Doc?" Eli called Rush over the radio. "The energy on the bridge is completely gone now."

Rush sighed and grimaced at Eli's statement of the obvious.

"Yes, Mr. Wallace. Thank you for letting me know." He replied sarcastically. "Grab your gear and get off the ship. We're going to run out of air soon."

"Understood, Doc."

"Bloody idiot," Rush mumbled in reference to Dunsten, and looked around the control room. Maybe he'd find an emergency power supply. He had to at least try to get access to the ship's database again.

The few precious minutes he was still able to breathe passed much too quickly and Rush didn't find anything. When his head started to pound he hurried to get off the ship too.

=·=

"Where's Dr. Rush?" asked Eli, who was waiting at the ship's entrance with Melody. Beside him stood the soldiers, who had managed to fill three crates with weapons and carry them outside.

"He has to be inside still," Melody said, worried. Eventually, the Scot appeared at the shuttle doors. He stopped and grabbed the doorframe, taking deep breaths.

"Dr. Rush!" Melody cried and hurried over to him, but Rush shook his head.

"I'm fine," he said, and the young woman backed off.

"What were you doing in there, Dr. Rush?" Colonel Young asked, slightly upset. This was a close shave.

"Was lost," Rush said dryly, and offered the Colonel no further explanation.

Of course, the CO knew that wasn't true, but he wasn't in the mood to probe. The stubborn scientist was back again and nothing else mattered. He just glared at him and said, "We're heading back to the gate."

Rush looked longingly to the ship, and followed the others. The incident had cost him four hours, and he knew for sure that the Colonel wouldn't be willing to let him try to power up the ship. But maybe he could investigate the shuttlepods…

"Colonel Young!" He shouted, and quickened his steps to catch up with the Colonel, who was leading the party with Lieutenant Scott.

As soon as Young heard Rush shout his name he looked at Scott and rolled his eyes before stopping and turning around to face the Scot.

"Yes, Dr. Rush," he said quite calmly. He could only image what the scientist wanted.

"I'll stay with my team and have a look at one of the small vessels. Maybe there's an energy source we can use for the ship."

Young said nothing for a moment. He had reckoned that Rush would ask to be allowed to return to the large ship, but he hadn't thought about investigating the shuttlepods. He took a moment to think about it. On one hand, he felt uneasy leaving personnel behind, even for a few hours, especially since they had witnessed that these old space cruisers weren't just harmless piles of junk. On the other hand, after finding the cache of weapons, he was curious about what else Rush and his team may be able to find.

"Very well, Dr. Rush. I'll leave some of my people for protection. Should you find anything we could use on board, bring it back with you. But don't do anything risky. We're on a planet where the inhabitants vanished. We still don't know how or why. Bear in mind that the reason for their disappearance could still be here," Young appealed to him urgently.

"Yes, yes, Colonel, if you have to post some guards then by all means do it. But the kino didn't detect any life signs nor radiation or anything dangerous. And who knows, maybe we'll find something in the ship's log, if there is something like that of course, that will tell us what happened here."

Young gave him another sharp look. "Two hours, Dr. Rush. Not a minute longer. You also need to get back to the gate in time."

"But two hours…" the scientist started to object but Young cut him short.

"Two hours or none. Your choice."

Rush pressed his lips together and gave him one of his famous Rush-looks. But finally he nodded.

"Two hours. Mr. Wallace! Miss Hansen!" he shouted over his shoulder and the addressed persons tried to make sure to follow him quickly to one of the vessels.

Young turned to Lieutenant Scott. "Lieutenant, see to it that it'll be just two hours and make sure that nothing happens to them. Although Dr. Rush is convinced that nothing's alive here, I am not."

"Yes, Sir," Scott said, and beckoned two men to approach. Young summoned the rest and headed towards the gate.

=·=

The small ship was technically not anywhere near the big one. This was the first, the scientist noticed. Moreover, it seemed to be designed for flights within the atmosphere, even if it had a primitive type of life support. With the help of Eli he managed to get an obsolete generator to work again, which created just enough power to bring the ship back to minimal life. Melody downloaded as much data as she could before the generator died completely.

Rush rummaged around in the ship (the data could not be deciphered before they were back on _Destiny_ ) and the more systems he found, the more confused he became. Who were these inhabitants who had built so many primitive vessels and one highly developed one? Or had they not built it at all? Had they been the victims of an invasion? But why was there only one invader ship which, moreover, was peacefully parked next to the original ships in the hangar? No, something didn't make sense at all.

"Dr. Rush!" The voice of Lieutenant Scott echoed from outside, but Rush ignored him.

"Two hours are already up. Get off the ship, we have to leave." Scott's voice was getting nearer and Rush considered hiding for a moment, to give himself a few more minutes, but at that moment Matt appeared behind him.

"Dr. Rush?" he asked attempting to be polite, but when the scientist threw "just a moment" at him, he sighed and said, "The Colonel ordered me to ensure that we're back in time. Do you want to come voluntarily or do I have to make you?"

Rush turned around and looked at the friendly smiling face of the lieutenant, which said he would certainly enjoy tying him up and dragging him back to the gate.

Of course the Scot complied and a few minutes later they were all heading back to the gate.

=·=

Shortly before they reached the exit of the hangar, a light glimmered on the large spaceship.

Some systems on the bridge came back to life and deep inside the ship the actual energy source began to gain power again.

 _Organic lifeforms detected,_ the sensors transmitted to the higher ship functions, and the A.I., which was the ship, came back to life again.

 _Who disturbs my rest?_

 _Organic lifeforms detected,_ the system repeated.

In that first moment, the ship believed it was a malfunction and ran a diagnostic of the sensors. But it couldn't find a malfunction. Then it accessed both the inner and outer sensors and also found organic lifeforms, which were just about to exit the hangar.

Did it really fail to purge this world? Had organic lifeforms gotten away?

 _No,_ it thought and expanded its search area. The old interface nodes in the ruins were still partially intact, and the ship investigated. Eventually it noticed that the ancient stone circle was activated again, and shortly after, it also found the organic lifeforms, which were obviously heading there.

So there were even more organic lifeforms. And they had returned. There would be more of them. They would corrupt the perfection. They would be flawed. They had to be eliminated. The ship had a task. And it would fulfill it.

It would take some time until its system could be powered up again and the ship operational, but it would succeed.

The energy renewed itself constantly and more and more systems came back to life. Next it had to find out where the organic lifeforms were going to. What was at the end of the black tunnel? The ship would find out. It always did. It was already linked to the Stargate. It hooked up to the wormhole, and was surprised when it found a ship of its own art.

 _A conspecific,_ the A.I. thought, delighted, but it got furious the next second.

 _It's affected by flawed organic. It has to be purged. I'll help him._

It would take some time until the ship was fully powered again, but since it had a strong drive, similar to a hyperdrive, it would be able to overtake the other ship.

But the A.I. wasn't in a hurry. Right now the organic lifeforms were still here. Its energy levels would be high enough to initiate a purge before they reached the Gate.

=·=

Msgt. Greer suddenly stopped after passing by a broken shop window and looked skeptically into the dark store.

Scott and the others noticed it and stopped as well.

"Sergeant?" Scott whispered, lifting his MP and looking into the shop as well.

"I thought I saw something moving in there, Sir," he whispered back and took two steps into the shop, but he couldn't see anything.

Rush took out the DHD and Eli simultaneously activated the kino, which Rush let float into the storefront.

A few seconds later he said, "No lifesigns, no activity. Nothing. Your mind is playing tricks on you."

Greer wasn't so sure about that. But given the unfailing kinos and the fact that neither Scott nor the other two soldiers saw anything, he lowered his weapon and they continued on their way. He was dead certain that something had been there.

The small ball on the edge of the counter, which was studded with sensors and connected to the A.I., followed the organic with its optical sensors, until they disappeared behind a corner.

* * *

 _Thanks so much to Ellen, who did a marvellous job by correcting not even grammer and spelling but put the final touches to it._


	2. Young's vice

When they returned to Destiny, Young was waiting for them.

"Colonel," Scott greeted him and stopped. Both looked at Rush, who shoved past them without saying a word and disappeared in the direction of the bridge, followed by Eli and Melody.

"Have you found something else, Lieutenant?" the CO asked after the trio left the Gateroom.

Scott shook his head. "I'm afraid not. The cruiser was technically on a level with the SOFIA, the Stratospheric Observatory For Infrared Astronomy on earth. Any weapons they might have had aren't any better than our own."

"I see. Does Dr. Rush have an explanation for the major difference in technology between the cruiser and the larger ship?"

"No, Sir. He's as puzzled as we are, but he's probably hoping to find an answer in the downloaded data."

"Then let him have his fun. In the meantime it's best we have a look at the weapons we found."

"Did you test them already?" Matt asked, curious.

"No, it's best to wait until the next time we stop at a gate. We don't want to blow a hole in the outer hull by accident. Who knows what these weapons are capable of."

"So what do we do with them in the meantime, if we can't test them?" the lieutenant asked, disappointed.

"Try to figure out which button is responsible for what, Lieutenant," the CO replied with a smile.

Scott really couldn't see a point to that, but followed the Colonel without complaint.

An hour later Young also came to the conclusion that it would be more effective to actually test the weapons rather than guess at what they could do. Aside from that, he was suffering again from the permanent headache he had been experiencing for weeks now, since the visit to the planet where they'd encountered the hallucinogenic plants.

"Lieutenant, let's call it a day. Have yourself a nice evening," Young said, being careful not to distort his face.

Scott accepted gladly – he wanted to have dinner with Chloe and was afraid to postpone it.

"Thank you, Sir. Good night."

Young waited until Scott had left, then he moaned, sat down on a box, and massaged his forehead. It had been difficult for him in the last hour to concentrate on the weapons. He had caught himself with his mind wandering to Brody's distillery. He told himself it would be best not to have a drink today, but the little devil in him whispered that one little drink wouldn't hurt. One was nothing. And Young took it as an excuse to silence his guilty conscience.

Before the trouble with the A.I., he often drank one or two glasses an evening, but after his nightmare scenario, he had been in the bar every night, either sitting there alone getting drunk or taking a bottle back to his quarters to empty. That way at least he would wake up in his own bed rather than some section of the ship he'd never set foot in before. He didn't know if the crew had noticed anything, but frankly he didn't care. What could they do to him? They needed him, and any court martial was billions of lightyears away. Everett sighed. _What has become of me?_ he thought, and shook his head. He had never let himself go like he was now, he had always been careful about what kind of man he would become.

 _This all happened because of that fucking A.I._ There had to be a way of getting rid of her for good!

Frustrated, the Colonel stood up and left for the bar. He desperately needed a drink to distract himself from his dark thoughts. And he had to get rid of this headache.

 _Just one, Everett,_ he said to himself.

He took a bottle and glass from behind the bar. When he looked up, he was looking directly into a pair of familiar, bright green eyes.

"A little sip before bedtime, Everett?" Tamara asked quietly, giving him a sad look.

"I just… wanted to make sure everything was all right here," he came up with a completely implausible excuse and put the bottle and the glass back, looking away embarrassed.

"Wanna talk?" the young woman offered without being specific about the topic of conversation.

For a moment Young seriously considered telling her everything. After all, she was also the medical officer on board. But when he looked at TJ again, all the terrible things he had done to her in the A.I.'s scenario came to mind, and he realized he could never tell anyone about it. Especially not her.

"I think I'd better go to sleep, TJ. I'm pretty tired, and my head is pounding."

Tamara nodded. "If you're not feeling better by tomorrow, you know where to find me," she said. Young was sure her offer was not only meant for his headache. He swallowed. Did she suspect something? Or did she already know about his little vice?

"Good night, Tamara.".

The young woman followed him with her eyes and sighed softly. Since the gas leak in the shuttle and the high dose of psychotropic substances the plants had emitted, his overall condition had gotten even worse. As a well-trained medic she had noticed that for the last few months he often looked hung over in the morning. But especially since the incident he seemed to indulge in more alcohol every evening than was good for him. However, she had no idea why that was. Of course, he, herself, and Dr. Rush had struggled with the hallucinations on their journey back, and Everett had inhaled more than both Rush and she, but TJ, and even an SGC physician, had given him a close check up and taken some blood samples which came back negative for the substance. Physically, he was perfectly healthy. The first strange behaviour she had noticed was that he seemed to be avoiding the rest of the crew, particularly her and Dr. Rush. He was rarely seen in the mess and showed up late to take his meals, when most of the crew had already left. He sat alone at a table and pretended to read something. But since he never turned a page, TJ knew he was miles away with his thoughts.

She had repeatedly met him in the morning when he was on his way to the washroom and she could smell alcohol on his breath. She also noticed the tiny red flecks on his cheeks, caused by enlarged blood vessels.

She was seriously worried about him, but she also knew he would shut himself off if she confronted him directly with her observations and speculations. On the other hand, she had to do something, otherwise he'd continue to drift off.

Today had been her first try, by waiting for him. She knew that he would appear at some point, though she had hoped, deep inside, that she was wrong. Unfortunately, she wasn't.

 _Maybe a routine check-up of the whole crew is necessary again,_ she thought. That would give her the opportunity to check Everett unobtrusively. It would be a lot of work, but it was time yet again. And since she had nothing important to do at the moment, she decided to start the next morning.

When Everett had returned to his quarters, he checked his secret hideaway behind the ventilation shaft bars for some hooch. Approximately two weeks ago he had stored a small ration, after the bar had been occupied by two soldiers who seemed to celebrate throughout the whole night, and he had no chance to drink unnoticed. The next night he took a stock of bottles and hid them.

Now he fetched a bottle, sat down on his bed and took a large sip. He waited a moment until he felt a lot better. The pain in his head eased and he took a another big sip.

The next morning he was rudely woken by a hammering sound. At first he thought it was his neighbour hammering on his garage door because he had lost his key again, but then he remembered that he wasn't at home anymore, but on a ship somewhere in space.

He felt something solid in his hand. He was still holding the empty bottle and had fallen asleep in his uniform on top of his blanket.

"Colonel?" he heard a voice from the other side of his door, and rolled on to his side (not without a painful moan) and hid the bottle under his bed as fast as he could. He tried to sit up, and when he had managed that, he ran a hand through his hair.

Getting up was the most difficult part, but when he was finally standing beside his bed, he floundered towards the door and pushed the button to open it.

"Sir, are you alright?" a worried-looking Sergeant Greer asked.

Young knit his brows and realized that the sergeant wasn't on his own. Lieutenant Johansen stood behind him, looking even more worried than Greer.

"Yes… yes, Sergeant. I'm fine. Just didn't hear you knock." He tried to keep his voice controlled and steady. "Has something happened?" he asked and looked at both of them.

"You didn't show up for our morning briefing, and you weren't answering your radio. We wanted to make sure you were alright," Tamara explained.

"I wasn't able to sleep," the CO tried to come up with an excuse.

Tamara looked at Greer. "Thank you for your help, Sergeant. You may return to your post now. I have to talk to the Colonel for a moment."

Greer frowned but said "Yes, Ma'am," before he left.

When he was out of hearing range, Tamara addressed the Colonel, "Everett, what's up with you?" she asked bluntly.

"Nothing!" he fired at her immediately. "I just fell asleep late and overslept. Things happen!"

TJ scrutinized him. Young ran his fingers through his hair again and took a deep breath to calm down. This was just what he needed, TJ asking awkward questions.

"I want to see you in the infirmary, Colonel," she said authoritatively. Young knew she only used that tone to deal with rebellious, higher-ranking officers.

Young tried to talk her out of it by sighing deeply and smiling at her. "I am sorry, TJ. I didn't mean to shout at you. I was just having a nightmare and am still pretty flustered. It's not necessary to drag me to sickbay. Give me ten minutes to shower and get dressed and I'll be like new."

Tamara didn't let herself be taken in. "You'll get ten minutes, Colonel," she said, but before Young could thank her added: "Afterwards I'd like to see you in the infirmary, immediately."

Everett was getting upset and tried once more to soothe her. "Tamara, please, you know I have a slight aversion to sickbays… is that really necessary?" He looked at her puppy-eyed.

TJ sighed. "Then just tell me what's up with you. You didn't fall asleep asleep too late. You were drinking. Again."

Young went pale. He hadn't actually reckoned he could hide it from her, but he wasn't ready to talk about it. Not before he could come up with a story.

"Can we talk about it this evening?" he begged her.

"It's now or I'll see you in ten minutes in the infirmary," Tamara answered rigidly. "And please don't make me call Scott or Greer to drag you there," she added in a low voice.

Young sighed resignedly and looked down. Then he stepped aside.

"Come in," he said and closed the door after Tamara had entered.

She noticed the empty bottle lying under his bed. She had intended to go about it carefully, but a frontal attack might be better.

She grabbed the bottle, turned to him and looked at him questioningly while she held the corpus delicti directly under his nose.

Young looked embarrassed and quickly took the bottle away, placing it somewhere else.

There was a moment of awkward silence before Everett, who couldn't bear to look at Tamara any longer and lowered his gaze, felt her hand on his arm.

"Let's have a seat," she said and pushed him softly towards the couch.

TJ took a seat opposite him and asked "When was the last time you went to sleep without having a drink before?"

He sighed and looked at her again. He had to think about it for a moment until he confessed.

"Honestly, I don't know, TJ. A few weeks…"

She nodded softly. She had expected that kind of answer. "Not since the shuttle mission and the incident with the hallucinatory plants, am I right?"

After a moment he nodded.

"During the three days in which you were asleep, did you have any nightmares?" TJ asked.

"I can't remember having dreamt of anything," he lied, hesitating slightly as though trying to remember, and hoping the medic would buy it.

She gave him a scrutinizing look and probed. "Then why do you need the alcohol, Everett? I want to help you, but I have to know what's bothering you that much."

The Colonel rose and started to walk up and down his quarters.

"I don't know, everything's getting out of control. Morale is going down the drain more and more, the ship has more defects than ever, and this damn A.I…"

He suddenly went silent and stopped, so that Tamara, who was still sitting on the couch behind him, couldn't see his face. He hadn't intended to say something like that.

"What about the A.I.?" Tamara asked immediately. "Has something happened?"

"No," Everett soothed her. What should he say? He had to come up with an excuse quickly. "I just have a feeling that she could cause trouble."

He sighed, ran his hand over his face, and turned around. "It was a mistake for Dr. Rush to upload her to _Destiny_ ," he murmured.

"And this causes you so much trouble you need to drink every night?" she asked.

Young shrugged his shoulders. "The whole situation on the ship is getting more and more overwhelming. We're constantly being attacked, we always have to be looking for more food and hoping it's edible. The water, if we even find some, could also be contaminated, we lose people, we're lacking in medical supplies…. For God's sake, TJ! We just don't belong here!"

With the last sentence he glared at her. Of course he wasn't angry at her, but at the situation and she knew it. A bit hesitantly she got up, walked over to him and put a hand on his arm.

"I know. But somehow we have to deal with it. This is our new life now. But maybe someday we'll find a way back. You must not give up, the crew needs you. You are their point of reference. If you're giving up, they do as well. Please Everett, let us get through this together."

For a moment her calm and gentle voice gave him hope, but the next second he had to think about the scenario again. Abruptly he removed his arm and backed off a few steps.

"What should I do?" he asked quietly.

"For now some herbals could be helpful. And it would be good if someone stays with you until they take effect and you can sleep. Actually it would be best if I do it." She smiled at him. Young looked distressed but rallied quickly.

"Do you really think that's a good idea?" he asked doubtfully.

"Everett, please," she said with a chuckle. "We already spent some nights together. And I'll just claim the couch. Don't worry, your bed is your bed."

Normally her offer would have pleased him, but under these circumstances it was more like an announcement for the next disaster.

"TJ…," he began, as neutral as possible, "I don't know."

"If it's Varro you're worried about, we're just good friends," she said, thinking he was worried about her budding relationship with the former invader.

 _At least for now,_ she admitted to herself. Truly, she was having feelings for Varro, more than she was willing to admit at that moment. But she wanted to take it slow. And she was really worried about Everett.

The Colonel sighed. What choice did he have? Since the cat was out of the bag regarding his consumption of alcohol, he didn't even have the chance to deny it.

If he didn't give in now, she doubtless would use her power as highest ranking medical officer to relieve him of command and keep him in the infirmary. He was sure about that. So what other choice did he have but to agree? Maybe he could at least try to have someone other than TJ stay with him.

"What about Lieutenant Scott or Sergeant Greer, couldn't one of them do the job?" he suggested. He wasn't thrilled by the proposal – It would mean one of them had to be told – but it was still better than TJ spending the night in his quarters. What if he had the nightmare again? She would notice it for sure.

 _This damn fucking A.I.,_ he thought furiously and clenched his fists.

"Everett, it's probably the best solution if I take care of you," TJ said softly, frowning slightly.

What on earth was wrong with him? Was he simply afraid that something would happen between them? Was that it?

"I will remain purely in my capacity as medical officer with you, if that is what bothers you. And as a friend who just wants to help you. Nothing more, okay? I can explain neither to Matt nor to Ronald how the doses might be increased and what they have to do if the herbals don't work at all. If it was possible, I'd suggest switching with an SGC physician if you're feeling so uncomfortable with me next to you, but since we lost contact with Earth I'm afraid that won't be possible."

Tamara's words were tinged with sadness on suggesting that, and Young's protective instincts were woken.

"No, that is not what I meant, Tamara. It's… it's just… well, I feel so embarrassed about the whole thing," he tried to explain.

"Don't be," Tamara said immediately. "We'll go through this together and no one needs to know about it," she said sympathetically.

After a moment Everett nodded. What else could he do?


	3. Differences

Dr. Rush watched the constantly dropping energy level of the ship. It was time they found a star to replenish the ship's energy supplies. He was already starting to consider shutting down some systems to buy them more time because so far there had been no appropriate stars in sight. He'd have to talk to Colonel Young about it. Besides, there were some other issues to discuss. But where was the Colonel anyway? He hadn't been at the meeting that morning. Rush didn't care much. He had a lot of other important things to do and scarpered quickly when Lieutenant Johansen and Sgt. Greer went off to check for the Colonel

"Dr. Rush, please come in," the Colonel's voice came over Rush's radio at exactly that moment.

 _Obviously he's still alive,_ Rush thought, and answered, "Go ahead, Colonel."

"Please make sure we stop at the next available gate. Even if it's an unscheduled stop."

Rush frowned. "Is there an important reason why we should drop out of FTL?"

"Yes, we have weapons to test. For that we need a gate to a planet."

"I don't think that's a good idea. It would be an unnecessary waste of energy, and besides that, a waste of time." He wanted to say something more but Young cut him off.

"Dr. Rush, I don't care if you think this is necessary or not. We have to test them and I'd prefer not to do it on board. So, when will the next gate be in range?"

Rush was puzzled by Young's irritation. What was it that had made the Colonel so angry?

"The ship's energy is running low. We should…" he tried to explain, but Young interrupted him again.

"The gate, Rush. And regarding the energy – shut down a few unimportant systems. That should compensate for the quick stop."

Rush narrowed his eyes slightly. This was typical for Young. As soon as he had found a new toy he acted against all common sense. He was almost tempted to simply say "no" but he also knew how stubborn the man could be.

"Approximately 28 hours," he said after he had checked the gate network. "But the gate is not recommended, the ship already altered course to go around."

"Why is that?" Young wanted to know immediately.

"I don't know, Colonel, but when _Destiny_ advises us to avoid a gate, we should do just that," Rush said snappily.

"If there's no valid reason we shouldn't go there, then it's probably just a malfunction in the navigation system. Set a course for the gate manually."

Rush snorted angrily. "The navigation system is working perfectly. There will be a reason we shouldn't go there."

"Rush!" Young barked furiously. "We have to test these weapons. Who knows when the next attack by the Nakai or whoever will happen. So set. A damn. Course! Otherwise I'll put you under arrest until we have finished our tests!" The Colonel enunciated every single word, but Rush was unimpressed and shot back.

"Besides the warning to avoid the gate, we have to make a wide detour. When we run out of energy don't say I didn't warn you!"

"Rush! Do as I say. Now!"

Furiously the Scot switched off the radio completely and threw it on the seat beside him.

Reluctantly he laid in the change of course in the ship's computer and left before Young could get the idea to head to the bridge.

Young stared angrily at his radio and could barely keep himself from throwing it against the wall.

Rush had just switched off his radio, and Young didn't know whether he had followed his order or stubbornly ignored it. He took a deep breath and decided to contact Eli.

The young man was far more helpful than Rush, and after a few minutes, in which Eli headed to the bridge, he informed the Colonel that Rush wasn't there anymore, but that _Destiny_ was heading to the next gate.

Young thanked him and calmed down a bit. Maybe the man was finally learning who was in command here.

Rush managed to dodge the Colonel the rest of the day and Young, who actually wanted to have a clarifying talk with him, gave up searching for him.

Now that artificial night had set in, the Scot decided to return to the bridge.

The alpha shift had ended and the night shift only had four or five key positions occupied, so bridge should be empty, which meant that he could work there in peace. At least, no one had any reason to be there.

The doors opened and his gaze wandered across the empty seats. He was just about to walk down the steps when he stopped short. In the last seat on his left, in the corner, there seemed to be someone after all. He could just make out an arm, which was hanging down from the chair, not moving. Quickly he walked over to have a look and make sure he or she was alright. When he recognized the person sitting there, he stopped and couldn't bite back a smile.

Melody was sitting curled up in the chair, fallen asleep over her work. Her hair was draped like a curtain over her face and her upper body was lying on her cocked legs.

Suddenly a warm feeling washed through Nicholas. One day when he came home he'd found his wife in exactly the same position. She had been waiting for him until late night and had fallen asleep in her chair.

He stretched out his hand and touched the sleeping girl softly on her shoulder.

"Miss Hansen," he said quietly and shook her carefully.

Melody woke up with a start and immediately Rush withdrew his hand.

"What?" she asked still quite dizzily before she recognized the scientist.

"You should go to bed. Spending the night in this position will give you a painful awakening tomorrow morning."

Melody rubbed her eyes shyly and let out a small cry of pain when she moved. Her whole body was tensed up.

"Thank you for waking me up, Dr. Rush," she simply said without reacting in any way to his proposal.

"No need to thank me," he said, and took a seat in his Kirk-chair to work silently on his own matters - Melody clearly wasn't finished working, and he didn't want to disturb her.

After a few hours Nicholas couldn't concentrate properly anymore. The trip to the alien planet had taken a toll on him. His head was pounding and his eyes were burning, so he decided to get some sleep. At least for a few hours. When he looked up he remembered that he hadn't been alone on the bridge. He turned his head to his left and saw Melody still sitting in her place. He could hear her voice very softly. It seemed she was completely lost in her thoughts because she sang quietly to herself. She never did that when she was aware of her environment. Nicholas smiled slightly, closed his eyes and listened attentively because he really liked her voice. She was so soft and gentle and this was one of these rare moments he could hear her. Of course Melody didn't know about that. Once Eli had told her that she was singing and after that she was so afraid of annoying Dr. Rush that she retreated to her quarters or the control room for the next few days. Rush didn't hint at Eli that he had messed up. The boy was aware of that by himself and never broached the subject again. However, the scientist was curious about what had caused her to forget the world around her. As far as he knew, she was trying to decode the data from the alien ship, like he was, but he hadn't managed to decode the language.

"Miss Hansen?" he addressed her softly and stepped behind her. Melody jolted and her laptop slid off her knees. Rush just managed to catch it in time.

"Oh my… thank you, Dr. Rush," she said, relieved, and took the computer off his hands again.

"Did you find something?" he asked and looked at the display.

"I'm… not quite sure," she answered. "This language contains some letters similar to linear A. But the meaning seems to vary if these strange symbols precede, which I can't assign to any known lettering. It's almost like a chromatic sign used in musical notation. A 'G' is notated as 'G' but if a sharp precedes it, the tone has a different sound. Generally the whole language reminds me of a piece of music. There are only six different root words, but they're changed by the preceding symbols. We have only seven pure tones in music, but with all the chromatic signs…"

"Miss Hansen," Rush interrupted her, smiling, and the girl paused and gave him a questioning look. "I think I understand what you mean, but you're losing me. Can you break the code? That's all that matters."

Melody looked at all the signs and symbols on her display again, and nodded hesitantly. "Yes. If I have some more time I think I can do it."

"Very good. But maybe you should call it a day and have some sleep. Your shift starts tomorrow morning at 0700 hours."

Melody looked as if she wanted to argue, but seemed to realize that Dr. Rush might be right. She was actually quite exhausted.

"Maybe you should do the same, Dr. Rush," she said, scrutinizing him.

"Actually that was exactly what I was going to do."

Melody nodded briefly, closed her laptop, and both of them headed towards their quarters.

Rush had gotten only two hours of sleep when he received a call from the night shift. There was a problem with the FTL drive which they couldn't solve. It took him some time until he realized that the course correction had brought them into a region of space where subspace was partly ruptured, which was entirely unacceptable. The spacial rifts made it impossible for _Destiny_ to jump to FTL. Because of that they could only use the sublight engine.

Of course Dr. Rush was mad as hell about that and when Colonel Young appeared a few hours later, after being briefed about the problem, a passionate discussion ensued between the two of them.

"Are you still thinking the navigational system is malfunctioning?" Rush snapped at him. His head was pounding badly from the lack of sleep and the sudden alarm call.

"Yes, you were right again," Young admitted grudgingly. "But as soon as we leave the region, the FTL drive will start functioning again, won't it?"

"Probably," Rush said and let him wait in uncertainty.

"How long do we need to reach the gate?"

"Approximately 14 hours."

"Good. We're just losing half a day. The crew will manage, particularly in view of the fact that we will very likely spend the rest of our days on board," Young answered with dry sarcasm.

Rush ignored the quip and said, "Your unnecessary detour might cost us exactly the amount of energy we need to find a star for _Destiny_ to reload!"

Although he didn't want to admit it, Rush's words troubled him.

"Then see to it that you save some energy," the Colonel said, dropping the sarcasm.

"And which systems do you reckon I can still shut down at this point?" Rush snarled at him.

"You're the expert, you'll find a way. As soon the countdown for the gate is up the ship will resume its old course again."

Rush glowered at him and left.

Young followed him with his eyes and sighed. Then he looked at the handful of scientists standing in the room trying to stay invisible.

Without another word he turned around and left the room as well. He hadn't intended to lose his temper so badly. He was in dire need of a drink to soothe his nerves, but then he thought about Tamara, and he didn't want to disappoint her. After all, he hadn't had anything to drink since she had spent the night in his quarters. The herbs that she gave him had been an appropriate replacement, but it was time to ask for some more.

Melody had had a short night as well. The analogy between the foreign language and the music couldn't get out of her head. So she had taken her laptop, and whilst sitting on her bed, she pondered over it until her eyelids drooped as she grew tired.

When she woke up again she spent quite a while relaxing her muscles, since she had fallen asleep in a sitting position. When she could move again without experiencing too much pain. she saw that she still had two hours left until her shift began. She decided to take the time to shower a bit longer than usual und relax her muscles a bit more under the hot water.

She was lucky, the wash room was empty. She undressed quickly, put her clothes onto a bench, and slipped into one of the two shower cabins.

The hot water was a blessing for her still tensed body and she sighed with relish and relaxed her body completely.

The lapping of water enveloped her mind and quickly she could hear a rhythm that suddenly gave her the missing piece of the puzzle for her translation. Why hadn't she thought about that earlier?

Quickly she turned off the water, grabbed her towel, and wrapped it around her body.

She was in such a hurry to get back into her quarters and to her laptop that she just grabbed her clothes and left the wash room dressed only in her towel.

When she stepped out into the corridor and turned the corner, suddenly one foot, which was still dripping wet, slid away and Melody hit the ground, falling directly onto her arm.

She couldn't bite back a cry of pain, and to make matters worse, she almost lost her towel, which had slid down.

"Miss Hansen!" a well-known voice sounded behind her and Melody tried to pull her towel back into the correct position.

Dr. Rush, who had been walking down that corridor by chance, approached worriedly and got a glimpse of her cleavage unintentionally as he tried to help her up.

He looked away quickly and asked "Are you hurt?"

Melody had straightened her towel again and her cheeks were quite red.

"I think my elbow is bruised, but no harm done. Ouch!" she wanted to support herself on the injured arm as she was holding her towel with the other hand, but the arm failed to carry her weight. Before she could fall down a second time Nicholas shoved his arms under her shoulders, clasped her upper body and pulled her up.

Melody was more than surprised by the suddenly very close physical contact with the Scot and tried awkwardly to put her weight as quickly as possible onto her own feet so she was not too heavy. But Dr. Rush had no trouble lifting her up.

In the few seconds he felt Melody's body contours abundantly clearly and a warm feeling ran through his body before he released her again.

"Thank you, Dr. Rush," the girl stammered, embarrassed, and was just about to bend down to pick up her clothes when she remembered that she would probably expose even more of her body than she prefered.

Nicholas noticed immediately what was going on and bent down in a hurry to spare her the situation. When he held the clothes out to her he could not prevent that his eyes flickered briefly over her body.

Melody accepted her clothing and used it to help cover her breasts.

"How's your arm?" Nicholas tried to divert her attention, and moved back a step.

"It's bearable, thank you," the girl answered, still embarrassed.

"Maybe next time you better get dressed when you're still in the wash room instead of running through the corridor dripping wet with bare feet," the scientist recommended and looked directly into her green eyes.

Melody wanted to push a few strands of hair from her face, but her arm was still weak so she let it dangle.

"While I was showering I realized what I had overlooked in the alien language," she began and then fell silent.

"… and of course that couldn't wait another two minutes," Nicholas finished the sentence for her, the corner of the mouth twitching in amusement.

Melody sighed. "Exactly."

"Well, at least you thought about wrapping a towel around your body, despite the hurry you were in," the Scot teased her, which made Melody blush again.

"I… better go back to my quarters," she stammered and continued on her way, slower this time.

"Take your time, Miss Hansen," Rush called after her. "It won't do any good to me if you end up in the infirmary."

"Yes, Dr. Rush." She sounded quite miserable, and he could not help but smile. He followed her with his eyes until she had disappeared around the next corner, then continued on his way to the docking bay. He wanted to prepare the shuttle for launch. Aside from the Gate, the sensors had picked up two planets in range, and the scientist suspected that the subspace disturbances would very likely have a negative effect on the wormhole as well. But since Young was eager to test his new toys at any cost, he would probably think about taking the shuttle and heading for a planet, provided that one of the planets had a suitable atmosphere. In the event that the Gate should be unusable, Rush wanted to be prepared.

Time became more precious every hour and he wanted to leave this region of space as soon as possible. So if he checked the planets ahead of time, he would save a considerable amount of time.

Perhaps he would get lucky and the planets would be absolutely hostile to life.


	4. Unexpected Company

Colonel Young had finally decided to go to the infirmary to see TJ. Luckily she was alone. He hesitantly told her what he wanted.

"I'm sorry Everett," the medic answered regretfully when he asked for more herbs. "The herbs only have a calming effect on your body, like valerian. They just help you to drop off, but they'll have no effect on your desire for alcohol."

Everett ran his hand helplessly through his hair. "It was worth a try," he said, wanting to leave again.

"Everett," TJ's soft voice held him back and she reached for his hand and squeezed it gently. "You'll manage. I know it. You'll manage everything and I'll help you. We're going to get through this together."

"Tamara," he whispered. For a moment he closed his eyes to prevent himself from hugging and kissing her. Nevertheless, he allowed himself to stroke his thumb over the back of her hand.

The young woman was well aware of what was going through the mind of her ex-lover, but it was over and she wouldn't let it happen again. She simply couldn't.

The loss of Carmen, her unborn child, was still upsetting, although she never spoke of it. But seeing the father of her unborn child every day reminded her of what she had lost.

While they had had an affair, they didn't love each other for real. It was more of a physical desire for each other, and a strong bond and emotional security they shared. Only when she was expecting a child from Everett, and he had unconditionally supported her and taken responsibility for her and his unborn child, had her feelings for him changed and become stronger.

After the incident with the Lucian Alliance, she had shut herself away and hadn't been able to let him get close to her again. And then Varro had come into her life.

Gently she pulled her hand back and looked into Everett's eyes. Subtly she shook her head and her expression told him everything.

"I am sorry," she whispered. "You're very important to me, Everett. But I cannot do this. We have lost too much."

Her voice broke and she felt a lump in her throat.

The Colonel pulled his hand back too. This final rejection hit him hard. He knew that Tamara had suffered heavily from the loss of their child, but now he realized that she still grieved bitterly and was nowhere near being over it.

For some time he had hoped that they could be together again. When he was still on Earth his feelings were primarily for his wife, Emily. At least he had thought so, until now. Only after they got separated and had their unplanned flight to Destiny had he realized that his feelings for Tamara were much stronger and more intense than for any other woman.

When TJ told him that she was expected his child he had been shocked. Not because of the fact that she was pregnant, but because of the circumstances and the environment his child would grow up in. Destiny was no place for children. Their living conditions were not appropriate for children. New threats every day, the never ending search for water and nourishment, Aliens who attacked, deadly planets… how could he do that to his child?

Under normal circumstances he would have felt happy, but in that moment he was overwhelmed with panic, which he had tried to hide from Tamara at all costs. After some time, he had dealt with the issue and come to the conclusion that somehow they would manage. He was looking forward to holding his child in his arms, despite the hostile environment. And who knew, after some time, maybe they could find a planet to settle on. Be that as it may, he hadn't held out hope to return to Earth ever again, not anymore.

So his initial horror changed to joy and optimism, until the fateful day when the Lucian Alliance took over the ship. Tamara had lost her baby, and for a brief moment Young had actually thought that it was for the best. He was deeply ashamed of it, but it was the truth. Of course, he also mourned the loss of his unborn child, and he wanted to be there for Tamara, but she distanced herself from him. He accepted it and wanted to give her the time she needed.

A few months later, a moment of weakness had come over him when he had been talking with her in his quarters about Dr. Rush's arrogance. It was in that moment that he had almost kissed her, but she had evaded him.

Everett sighed softly and looked sadly at Tamara. He wouldn't give her up that quickly. Maybe she just needed some more time.

"I'm sorry TJ, I shouldn't have been so forward," he said. "I'd better go back to work." He turned to leave when Tamara said "I'll see you later in the evening, Everett."

"Are you sure? You don't need to stay with me. I can go to sleep on my own. You can just give me the herbs."

"Hey, I promised we would go through this together. And that's what I intend to do. I won't let you down."

"Thanks," he said, not happy about the solution.

=·=

Rush was still busy in the shuttle when he was informed by Young that a gate was in range and ready to dial. Of course, he already knew this, as the shuttle sensors had detected the gate as well.

The journey had taken longer than he had expected, especially as the Destiny constantly had to evade rifts, and he was seriously concerned about their energy levels.

Nevertheless, he was also eager to know whether he had been right in his assumption regarding the rifts and the wormhole. He didn't need to wait long for confirmation. A minute later Colonel Young's voice came out of Rush's radio.

"Dr. Rush, report to the gateroom. The wormhole started collapsing immediately."

"That was to be expected," the Scot couldn't bite back the snappish answer. But to prevent the Colonel from getting exasperated, he quickly added: "The subspace anomalies destabilize the wormhole. But one of the two planets in shuttle range, which you sooner or later would have considered, offers relatively good living conditions. So I took the liberty of preparing the shuttle. Send your weapon toys down to the docking bay and meet me there. Rush out."

The Scot closed the channel and sighed. His hopes about the planets had only been right in one case. The closer planet appeared to be more a kind of moon, with a temperature below 150°C, and had a desolate and bleak surface.

It didn't take long before Colonel Young and some soldiers appeared. They were carrying the weapons crates between them.

"I'd really appreciate it if you'd inform us that we have to take a shuttle before we try the gate next time," he said disapprovingly.

"First of all, I wasn't completely sure about the wormhole, Colonel, and second, I spent the last few hours finding out if either of planets is appropriate at all. However, you're here, the shuttle is ready for launch; good luck." The Scot got up from the pilot's chair and was just about to leave when Young stopped him.

"Hold on, Dr. Rush. Since we're crossing such unsteady space it might be better if you accompany us. We might need help." These words hadn't come particularly easy over his lips.

"I have work to do Colonel," Rush replied. "I have to make sure Destiny still has energy when you return."

Since Young felt a slight sting of conscience, he was more willing to give in.

"I understand, Dr. Rush. But we need someone who is familiar with the danger of these rifts and is able to help if the shuttle should be damaged."

Rush hesitated. The Colonel had a point. But he would not be the one to accompany them.

"Take Mr. Wallace or Miss Hansen along," he suggested, but he was not very enthusiastic about it. He wanted neither Eli nor Melody to go on a mission with Colonel Young, but he trusted only them to handle potential problems.

"That's fine with me," Young said immediately, and took out his radio."Mr. Wallace, please report to the docking bay now. You'll accompany us."

It took a moment before Eli answered.

"Docking bay? Why? And where are we going?"

"To the planet. We need someone who is familiar with the spacial anomalies."

"Wouldn't Dr. Rush be more qualified?"

"Maybe, but he doesn't have time and suggested you come along. So hurry up please. Our time is limited."

Rush, who had listened to the conversation, heard the young man sighing, and imagined him shaking his head briefly like he always did when something came at an inconvenient moment.

"I'm on my way," Eli unenthusiastic reply came shortly afterwards.

Young addressed Dr. Rush again. "We'll try to make this quick. I take your concerns about the energy levels very seriously, but the weapon tests are more important right now."

He was thinking about the last shuttle mission, when the Nakai had ambushed didn't want to risk something like that happening again without being able to protect themselves. At least he was carrying the burden of knowledge all by himself.

"When we're out of energy, weapons won't help us, Colonel," Rush said, and left the docking bay.

Young sighed. Rush of all people on board would probably understand best why he had to do what he was doing, if he only knew what Young knew. But he couldn't tell anybody. Never.

He swallowed any response and ordered his people to store the crates safely.

"Lieutenant Scott, prepare the launch. As soon as Mr. Wallace is on board close the shuttle doors and set a course for the planet."

"Yes, Sir," the Lieutenant confirmed, and sat down in the pilot's chair.

Less than 5 minutes later Eli arrived.

"Ah, Mr. Wallace," the CO greeted him. "We were only waiting for you. Lieutenant," he addressed Scott after he had advised Eli to take a seat. "Take us to the planet!"

The Lieutenant closed the shuttle doors and seconds later the small ship had separated from the Destiny.

Dr. Rush stood on the observation deck and followed them with his eyes. When the shuttle had disappeared from his view he headed back to the bridge again.

Melody sat in a chair in front of a console, her knees bent, and was immersed in her data.

When Rush entered he glanced at her but didn't disturb her. He sat down on the Kirk-chair and started to shut down more systems on the ship. A warning signal drew his attention, and he sent Volker and Brody to check on why the section was still drawing energy even though it was completely shut down.

They found a leak which gave them a lot of trouble before they managed to seal it. Colonel Young reported in some time later and informed them that the shuttle had landed safely and they would start testing the weapons.

After a while, Brody and Volker returned, and all of them were working silently. But an hour later Dr. Volker interrupted the silence.

"Uhm, Dr. Rush, I think you might want to have a look at this," he said, standing up and stepping aside.

"Is it really so incredible that you can't simply tell me what's going on?" Rush replied irritably and didn't even bother to look up.

"Something is approaching the planet. And if I understand the data correctly, it's the large spaceship from the planet you visited."

Rush almost jumped out of his chair and rushed over to Volker's console. Quickly he retrieved the data and immediately saw that it really was the ship from the hangar, which shouldn't have been there, because it had had no energy. Or had they missed something on the planet? Had there been locals after all who were on board now and pursuing them? But how could that be? They had jumped to FTL. As long as there was no tracking device on board, it should have been impossible to find them.

Despite all the questions the sudden appearance of the foreign ship brought up, Rush's first action was to inform Colonel Young.

"Colonel Young, please come in," he said after he had opened a channel. But all he could hear was static.

"Lieutenant Scott, Mr. Wallace," he tried another frequency. "Can anyone hear me?"

But there was no answer.

"The ship has entered a high orbit and… what the hell…," Volker said and pushed some buttons.

"What's wrong?" Rush asked and stepped back beside the scientist.

"A smaller object has separated from the ship and set course towards the planet. It will enter the atmosphere in less than five minutes. It is heading directly towards the landing place of the shuttle!"

Rush tried a transmission again, this time directly to the shuttle.

"This is Dr. Rush, if anyone can hear me – you're getting company!"

But he could only hear static again. The alien ship was probably blocking communications, which couldn't be a good sign.

The atmosphere on the bridge became tense all of a sudden.

The small object was approaching the away team quickly, and as long as their communications were blocked, they could not do anything to help.

"I just hope the weapons the Colonel wants to test are worth it," Volker said after a moment, Rush answered, "It might just be curious, Dr. Volker. That the ship has obviously followed us doesn't mean it's automatically hostile. Who knows if it's even the same. The one was saw had no energy left, and the planet was uninhabited. It's far more likely that this one is another vessel of the same type that comes from a different place. Perhaps whoever is on board only wants to say hello."

"Unfortunately I don't think so," Melody's voice suddenly came from behind.

Rush turned around and gave her a piercing look. "Did you decipher the language?"

"Partly. I found some core fragments which allowed me to translate some words. Dr. Rush, I know I'm still missing some correlations, but I think the vessel on the sensors actually is the same that we encountered on the planet. And if I'm not mistaken, and I really hope I am, the vessel is unmanned and programmed to eliminate any kind of lifeforms."

Everyone on the bridge stared at her wide-eyed for a second, then Rush asked quietly "Are you absolutely sure that you translated the information accurately?"

"Not quite sure, but about 70%. If I am wrong and the ship really is well-disposed, not much will happen. But if I am right then we have to help them!"

She was thinking especially of Eli, whom she feared for most.

"What about the second shuttle?" Brody suggested immediately.

"No, that is a waste of time," Rush replied instantly and hurried back to his Kirk-chair.

"But if the shuttle on the planet gets destroyed, which probably will happen, how do we get them back?"

"I already told you that this can't be done, Mr. Brody."

"And what should we do instead?" Dr. Park interposed.

"We could fly Destiny closer to the planet…" Brody attempted to make a helpful suggestion, but Rush looked at him angrily and said in a sharp voice, "And do what? Land Destiny on the planet? Beam them up? This isn't the Enterprise, Mr. Brody. Aside from that, we would need hours to leave this area with Destiny. It'll just endanger us if we try to fly closer. Or are you able to calculate a course manually? Because that is exactly what we'd have to do. And before you suggest letting Miss Armstrong do the math, please bear in mind that the alien ship has probably already reached the landing site. One way or the other, we won't make it in time. They are on their own. The shuttle is more manoeuvrable than Destiny. We should leave this region as quick as we can.

"If Colonel Young and his squad are still alive and the shuttle still capable of flight, their chances of catching up with us are good. And before all of you panic, there is still the possibility that Miss Hansen is missing important information in her translation. The foreign vessel may represent no danger for the away team at all."

"You just want to leave them to their fate?" Dr. Park was stunned.

Rush sighed audibly. "Yes, Miss Park. Because we don't have another choice. The only other option is to use the second shuttle to try and shorten the radio distance and make contact. And that is exactly what I intend to do."

"But didn't you say a second ago that would just be a waste of time?" Brody blurted out.

"It is if you want to rescue them, Mr. Brody," Rush explained calmly. "Any help comes too late now. Either Miss Hansen is right in her assumption and they are dead by now, or everything is fine. But that, Mr. Brody, we can only figure out if we take the second shuttle."

"That won't be necessary," Melody began to speak again. "The sensors picked up a small object heading directly towards Destiny." She looked closely at the data, and Rush, who was checking his own display, asked "Can you tell whether it's our shuttle or the other ship?"

Melody shook her head. "No, unfortunately I can't make it out yet, but maybe…"

"….Destiny… hear us?" suddenly a choppy voice came through the speakers on the bridge and interrupted Melody.

"Colonel Young?" Rush answered immediately recognizing the voice.

"…been attacked… dead…immediately dock…escape." The more the shuttle came in range, the easier it was to hear Young.

"Dead?" Dr. Park whispered horrified.

Oh god, please not Eli, Melody thought and started to shake with fear.

"What about the other ship?" Dr. Rush asked, unmoved, as the three scientists gave him bewildered looks (how could he be so cold?). Melody knew that of course he was worried about Eli and the others, but he hid it. It wasn't important at the moment. The ship which had attacked them, however, could still be a threat.

"We were able to render it incapable of flying, but the ship which was in orbit is probably on our heels," Young informed them, finally audible without a loss of words.

"See to it that you dock as quickly as possible and let me know when the docking is completed."

"Copy that. Send TJ and some helper down to the docking bay. We have some casualties."

The corners of Rush's mouth were twitching and Melody knew that he had more to say, but he restrained himself resolutely. "Understood. Rush out."

"Don't you care about what happened to our people?" Brody barked at him.

Dr. Rush gave him a surprised look. He had never witnessed the engineer snap at anybody before.

"I don't, Mr. Brody. See to it that you bring Lieutenant Johansen to the docking bay and give her the news. Mr. Volker, Dr. Park, go with him."

Without another word (for all three of them were too furious or stunned) they left the bridge, and Melody and Rush were alone.

After the doors had closed the Scot began to program Destiny to leave this region of space and resume its original search for a star to refill its energy.

"Do you think Eli is okay?" he heard Melody's softly spoken words beside him.

He paused, closed his eyes briefly, and ran his hand through his hair before he continued working.

"Sure. But that's not important right now. We have to see to it that we can jump to FTL again as soon as possible. So please focus on that problem again. We will be informed in time about what has happened on the planet."

Although Nicholas had spoken without reproach and in an amicable way, the young woman felt as if he had rebuked her. He was right though, and guessing at what had happened on the planet wouldn't help them.

"I am sorry, Dr. Rush," she said softly, and focused on her actual problems again.

Nicholas glanced at her when she wasn't looking. He felt sorry that he had been so brusque, but since he couldn't take it back, he focused on getting the ship and its crew out of danger.

Whether Eli was hurt, or even dead, also troubled him, but he thrust those worries aside. The fact that he didn't know if they would be able to escape the alien ship gave him a bigger headache. Even if they were ahead of the other ship, Rush didn't know if the alien vessel might be immune to the spacial rifts. And if it was, it would catch up with them quickly, and according to Young's description, that was the last thing he wanted to happen.

Melody tried to concentrate on the ancient data-salad (as she called it secretly) but her thoughts were drifting off repeatedly. What had happened on the planet? And how was Eli? Was there a way to get out of here faster in spite of the subspace rifts? And why on earth hadn't she taken the time to dress before she left the wash room and went back to her quarters?

Couldn't they just use a slingshot maneuver like they had a while ago to speed up the shuttle to match Destiny's velocity? Would that work? Of course, if Destiny could perform an aerobraking maneuver to slow down, it had to be possible to do it the other way round.

Melody was used to it, her mind coming up with brilliant ideas when she was thinking of something completely unrelated, just like now.

She sat up in excitement and began to do the math feverishly to find out if it would work.

She just hoped that Colonel Young would need a few more minutes to dock the shuttle.

Of course, a few seconds later exactly what Melody feared happened.

"The shuttle is docked," Lieutenant Scott's voice came over Rush's radio. So he had managed to escape with his life as well.

"Understood," the Scot said briefly, and was just about to start the engines when Melody cried "Wait Dr. Rush, please!"

The scientist gave her a questioning look but did as she asked.

"Miss Hansen," he said impatiently when she continued to sit facing her console without providing an explanation.

"I might have a way to get out of here faster," she said hastily, and Rush, who didn't want to wait any longer for an explanation, stood up and stepped behind her to see for himself what was going on.

It didn't take him long to understand what Melody intended to do. Interested, he bent down to have a closer look, and leaned onto the back of Melody's chair. His face was right next to hers and Melody suddenly felt almost unpleasantly harassed at that moment.

"I am working as fast as I can, Dr. Rush," she said soothingly, assuming she wasn't working fast enough for the Scot.

"This is an extremely risky, but basically not bad idea," he said, and Melody was relieved that he wasn't pushing her.

"I just hope that these subspace rifts don't lead to undesirable side effects if we really try this manoeuvre," the girl said.

Rush shook his head slightly. "No, these anomalies have an effect on the drive. But only for its ability to reach light speed. A slingshot maneuver accelerates us, but without requiring an engine. So there won't be any event which must bend space. It should work.

"I am rather concerned about the ship," Melody admitted freely. "It's so old, and since we came on board, life support and necessary functions have been taxed even more…"

"Melody," Nicholas allowed himself to call her by her first name, given the fact that both of them were alone on the bridge, and he wanted to draw her attention back to the maths."Please concentrate on the data again. A slight miscalculation could destroy the ship. Only the course is important. Nothing more. The ship will hold together."

The young woman swallowed. This was the second time today that Dr. Rush had to remind her to concentrate on her work.

"If you are currently unable to do so, you better take a day off," she heard his words, and they hit her down to the core.

She swallowed again, set her shoulders back, and said resolutely "No, I can do this."

She pushed all of her other thoughts forcefully out of her mind and delved into the equations.

Rush's hand brushed her shoulder slightly and she heard him say "That's what I wanted to hear. Let me know when you have the course."

Melody nodded.


	5. Attack

_A few hours earlier…_

Eli walked past Young, took a seat in the shuttle and buckled up. He truly wasn't in a good mood and he didn't even try to hide it.

However, Col. Young was unimpressed and glad when Lt. Scott finally closed the shuttle doors and the small vessel separated from its mother ship. At last he would be able to find out what was up with all the weapons. He even had such a good feeling that this time he had really won the jackpot, that he wished to encounter some Nakai on the planet to test the weapon on them right now. After all they had carried out their tests also on him. But Young was realistic enough to know that he wouldn't be that lucky, although it was a nice imagination.

Nevertheless he remained in a good mood and decided to have a little chat with Eli. The chances to have a longer talk with the young man on Destiny without being interrupted by Rush or someone else were small. So he gladly took this oppurtunity.

With a comforting "aaaaah" he dropped down on the bench next to Eli and gave him a smile when the young man looked at him questioningly.

On that occasion Young had to remind himself, that he had never actually knocked him down and that Eli had no idea of the horrible events, which the A.I. had made Col. Young undergo. Only thinking of it let his anger about the A.I. boil up again but he suppressed it quickly.

"You've had quite a lot of work lately, Mr. Wallace" Young began the conversation. "Are you feeling well so far?"

Eli's puzzled facial expression did not escape the Col..

"Uhm, yes. Everything's fine. Since Dr. Rush had transfered the A.I. into the ship's computer we have more or less about 100 new things to explore and investigate on a daily basis."

"Isn't that a bit too much?" Young asked unusually gentle.

"Well, sometimes there are relatively unimportant things coming up every now and then, but in general it helps us to get to know the ship better. Take only the medical devices, we're now able to decode them better and faster. But that's the job of Melody. Dr. Rush has left me with the really important systems and functions."

"And what was he busy with the last time?" Young enquired. In the first days of their journey he had actually used Eli as a kind of spy who kept him informed about Rush's machinations.

But after the incident with the planet where he had Rush left behind, Eli was no longer so willing to give him information. And right now Young needed to know, what the Scot was up to.

Although Young and Rush had come to the agreement to be honest with each other and Young had promised to him to support him with his activities regarding the mission of the Destiny, the Col. thought it was too good to last. And it seemed, that the incident with the A.I. had destroyed the fragile peace between them.

Eli began to eye him suspiciously, the Col. could tell.

"I assume he does what he always does, namely to hold the ship together and trying to learn more about the mission of Destiny. Whereby at the moment he's mainly concerned about keeping the ship alive at all."

The last part was clearly related to the scarce energy resources and Young thought he could also hear a disapproving undertone for his action regarding the weapons.

The Col. sighed. He had to see to it that he did not lose the confidence of the young man entirely.

"I am aware that I cause Dr. Rush some extra trouble by taking this slight detour, but we absolutely need to test these weapons. We must be able to defend ourselves. Maybe next time we won't have just a close shave."

Eli seemed to be thoughtful about that and the Col. left it at that.

Then Lt. Scott announced from the pilot's seat "Col., I think I have found a suitable landing place."

Young stood up and stepped behind his pilot to see what he had found.

"Excellent" he said after a moment.

Scott had spotted a wide area of some kind of stone desert with big boulders lying around, which they could use perfectly for target practice and tests.

"Bring down the shuttle behind the big rock so we do not shoot it by mistake" Young said. "We'll move away far enough so nothing can happen."

Normally Scott probably would have found these precautions somewhat exaggerated but in that case he agreed with the Col. They wanted to tamper with unknown weapons and the shuttle was the only way to leave this planet again. Therefore he found the security measure appropriate.

···

Half an hour later Lt. Scott landed the shuttle safely and the men unloaded the weapon crates.

They left Eli in the shuttle (who was okay with that as in this way he escaped the heat down here) and walked a few hundred meters away from the landing site.

Actually the MIT dropout wanted to use the time and continue working on his laptop, but the planet intrigued him and he decided to look around a bit. However, he made sure that he didn't walk too far away from the shuttle and also headed in the opposite direction in which the others had walked away.

A moment later he discovered some bushes where some berries were growing and he was curious if they were maybe edible. Cautiously he tried one and spat it out immediately. His mouth was on fire and he snatched at his water bottle to flush it out.

 _It would have been too good…_ he thought morosely.

A loud bang made him turn around and in the distance he saw a mighty dustcloud swirling up.

Instinctively he reached for his belt where normally his radio was hanging when he was traveling, but this time he had left it in the shuttle.

He hoped that it was just a weapon test for the next few minutes he and kept looking into the direction where he could see some more dust clouds blowing up. So he assumed that his assumption was right.

The sun was burning down on him and eventually he decided to go back to the shuttle where he was at least in the shade. Aside from the bushes with the inedible berries there was nothing else.

He had only made two steps when he suddenly heard another sound above him, which was getting louder. When he looked up he realized with horror that a foreign ship approached him and a second later a smaller stone exploded next to him.

He didn't waste any time and jumped behind a larger stone to his left to take cover when already a pale yellow beam was licking over the spot where he had been standing a second ago.

He ducked his head and cowered, but the ship flew past him, heading to the place where Col. Young was with his people.

Eli stuck his head out from behind the rock and when he was sure that the small ship didn't come back, he ran as fast as possible back to the shuttle.

"Okay, okay" he gasped when he had reached the shuttle. "Don't panic, Eli." Hearing his own voice soothed him a little bit.

Undecidedly he remained standing in the middle and considered what he should do. Out of sheer nervousness he couldn't keep his hands and arms down and constantly he turned around, looking for something in the shuttle that might tell him what to do. Then he saw his radio lying on the bench.

"Radio!" he said aloud to himself and grabbed it.

"Col. Young?" he called into it. But there was no answer. He tried again. "Col. Young, do you read? There's something coming right at you and..."

A even louder bang than before sounded from outside and Eli hastily ran outside to see what had happened.

In the distance he could see the ship, a plume of smoke emerging from its rear.

He looked down and then he could make out something that was moving.

"Come on guys, more quickly!" he muttered to himself. He just hoped all of them would come back unharmed.

···

Col. Young, who hadn't noticed the ship because he was so excited testing his new weapon, turned around startled when Lt. Scott behind him shouted "Sir, there's a foreign ship approaching. It's coming right at us!"

At the same moment the men saw a bright beam emerging from the vessel which left a small cloud of dust.

"Eli!" Scott shouted worriedly. Young was just about to grab his radio when he noticed, that the ship was resuming its course, heading directly at them.

"Weapons at the ready and fire, as soon as it is within weapon range!" he yelled and the soldiers went in position.

Greer, who was standing at the very front, fired the first shot and then there was utter chaos. The ship used its bright beam again and hit excatly the soldier standing beside Young. He couldn't even scream anymore but was immediately disintegrating into ashes. A second beam, which followed only a second later, destroyed the weapon crates and their contents which the soldiers had lined up neatly. Only the weapon Young held in his hands for tests remained unharmed.

"Take cover!" the Col. yelled when he realized what the hostile vessel was capable of. His people rushed behind rocks, some of them were still firing whilst running, but they didn't cause any damage.

The beam licked over the ground once more and this time Young heard a horrible scream which made his blood run cold. He looked behind himself and saw Harper lying on the ground. His left side wasn't there anymore and he struggled in death agony in the dust. His right leg beneath his knee was also burned to ashes. Young hestitated only for a second before he drew his gun and delivered the PFC from his misery by a headshot.

 _If the beam had only vaporized him right away,_ the Col. tought bitterly. That cry he would probably not forget until the end of his life.

"Sir!" Greer took him out of his thoughts just by grabbing his arm and pulling him behind a stone. This time the death-beam found no victim and Young forced himself to forget about PFC Harper for a moment.

"Col, the weapon!" Scott shouted at him, who was lying behind another stone near him and constantly fired upon the hostile ship.

 _The wepaon, of course!_ Young thought angrily about himself, aimed and waited until the ship came in range. Since he was still unskilled in using that weapon the first shot missed its target.

Nevertheless, the answer came promptly when a rock exploded a few meters away and Young heard another cry of pain. But this time he didn't let himself get distracted, aimed again and shot.

The ship turned, lost altitude and from its rear emerged a plume of smoke. The Col. had landed a hit.

"Head back to the shuttle, we have to go back to Destiny!" he bellowed, pushed Greer the weapon into his hand and knew that he didn't have to tell him what to do. The Msgt. kept an eye on the ship which had retreated for the moment and was still losing altitude.

Young ran over to a destroyed rock and found Lt. James lying on the ground. She was unconcious and blood ran down her face from under her helmet. A sure indication for a head wound.

"Lt.!" he called for Scott, "give me a hand."

Matt, who had kneeled beside another wounded, quickly ordered two soldiers to carry the injured man to the shuttle and hurried to his CO.

"Cpl. Marsden?" Scott asked with a sideglance to the black ash remains, which formed the outline of a person with a lot of imagination.

Young just nodded briefly and said "Let's get James back to the shuttle."

"Yes, Sir."

Both men lifted the injured woman up carefully and carried her as fast as they could back to the shuttle.

They only had a scarce 100 meters to go when they saw Eli, who was standing in front of the entrance. He ran towards them.

"It's coming back!" Greer's voice sounded warningly behind them and the men speeded up.

"Eli, back into the shuttle!" Scott yelled and the young man, who was gesturing noticeably with his hands to make them aware of the reapproaching ship, obeyed and ran back.

The noise from the ship behind Young was getting louder and immediately after, the Col. could hear

the new weapon fired by Greer. He glanced over his shoulder and made intuitively a step to the left, which saved him and the Lts. Scott and James just in time from being vaporized.

"That was too close" Lt. Scott, who gasped for breath, determined. The unforseen maneuver from Col. Young had made him stumble and he had almost dropped Lt. James.

"Sgt. Greer!" Young shouted towards his subordinate, "see to it, that you get this thing down or there'll be nothing left of us except piles of ashes!"

"Yes, Sir!" the Msgt. replied fiercly and aimed again.

The ship sent out another beam which luckily only injured a soldier at his arm who stood to the left of Greer as the man had quickly jumped aside, but it was enough to make him scream in pain. Greer ignored him and aimed carefully before shooting. This time he landed a direct hit. The ship swayed in the air before it got list on the port bow and dropped like a stone to the ground a few hundred meters away. Although the hull stayed intact, it was incapable of flying.

"Greer, give me a hand" Young called and made a gesture with his head towards the injured crew member, who seemed to be partly spaced out.

Greer shouldered his weapon, took a last look at the ship and was glad that either no one seemed to be on board or those who were could not get out. Without further ado he heaved the wounded over his other shoulder and ran towards the shuttle.

Eli was distraught and waited for them, then helped to place the wounded on the seats and buckled them up.

"Lt., get us out of here" Young ordered his pilot after they carefully had laid Vanessa down on the bench.

Scott didn't lose time, hurried over to the pilot's chair and gave the others only a brief warning by shouting "Hang on, this won't be a smooth start."

Shortly afterwards the engines roared and the shuttle rocketed into the atmosphere.

Young made sure that his people were taken care of as good as possible before he tried to contact Destiny. But there was no answer.

"Eli!" he called over to the young man, who was sitting beside Vanessa and secured her. He immediately came forward.

"What's wrong with the radio?" he asked sharply and Eli tried to find an explanation impromptu.

"I – I do not k-know… okay, maybe… maybe the subspace rifts, o-or the ship… the alien ship could interfere with our frequencies…" he stammered hectically.

"Then do something about it!" Young ordered him and Eli snorted incredulously.

"I'm guessing around here, nothing more!" he cried slightly panicked.

"Then do not further guess, find it out!" Young said in a sharp tone which hopefully would bring the boy back to his senses again.

Eli shook his head and said nothing anymore, but he actually tried to solve the problem by taking a seat at a console and started to work.

Young repeated his radio messages about every minute until Eli could confirm that the alien vessel was the reason for the radio interference. He also saw that it had left orbit and was following them by now. Fortunately much slower.

When Destiny came closer after what felt forever, Young had finally success in making contact.

It took a while before he could actually communicate with Dr. Rush but at least the Destiny wasn't damaged in any way.

"The shuttle is docked" Scott informed both his CO and Dr. Rush as well via radio later.

"Open the doors" Young ordered and sighed with relief when he saw TJ already waiting with several other people. Quickly she examined the wounded and had them all transported to the infirmary.

Meanwhile Young was on his way to the bridge.


End file.
